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I 


THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 


®J»  3ng«soll  JlettuK,  1905 


THE  ENDLESS  LIFE 


BY 


SAMUEL  McCHORD   CROTHERS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

(STbe  Siitetjsitie  ^xe^^,  Camtiritise 
1 90s 


3r 


COPYRIGHT  1905  BY  SAMUEL  MCCHORD  CROTHERS 
ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 

Published  November  iqos 


85;2't  T  8 


THE   INGERSOLL  LECTURESHIP 


Extract  from  the  ■will  of  Miss  Caroline  Haskell  Ingersoll^ 

who  died  in  Keene,  County  of  Cheshire,  New 

Hat7ipshire,  Jan.  26,  iBgs. 

First.  In  carrying  out  the  wishes  of  my  late 
beloved  father,  George  Goldthwait  Ingersoll,  as 
declared  by  him  in  his  last  will  and  testament,  I 
give  and  bequeath  to  Harvard  University  in  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  where  my  late  father  was  graduated, 
and  which  he  always  held  in  love  and  honor,  the 
sum  of  Five  thousand  dollars  ($5,000)  as  a  fund  for 
the  establishment  of  a  Lectureship  on  a  plan  some- 
what similar  to  that  of  the  Dudleian  lecture,  that  is 
—  one  lecture  to  be  delivered  each  year,  on  any  con- 
venient day  between  the  last  day  of  May  and  the 
first  day  of  December,  on  this  subject,  "the  Im- 
mortality of  Man,"  said  lecture  not  to  form  a  part 
of  the  usual  college  course,  nor  to  be  delivered  by 
any  Professor  or  Tutor  as  part  of  his  usual  routine 
of  instruction,  though  any  such  Professor  or  Tutor 
may  be  appointed  to  such  service.  The  choice  of 
said  lecturer  is  not  to  be  limited  to  any  one  religious 
denomination,  nor  to  any  one  profession,  but  may 
be  that  of  either  clergyman  or  layman,  the  appoint- 
ment to  take  place  at  least  six  months  before  the 
delivery  of  said  lecture.  The  above  sum  to  be 
safely  invested  and  three  fourths  of  the  annual  in- 
terest thereof  to  be  paid  to  the  lecturer  for  his 
services  and  the  remaining  fourth  to  be  expended 
in  the  publishment  and  gratuitous  distribution  of 
the  lecture,  a  copy  of  which  is  always  to  be  fur- 
nished by  the  lecturer  for  such  purpose.  The  same 
lecture  to  be  named  and  known  as  "the  Ingersoll 
lecture  on  the  Immortality  of  Man." 


THE  ENDLESS  LIFE 

IN  venturing  upon  the  subject  of 
immortality,  it  is  necessary  to 
rid  our  minds  at  once  of  the 
conceit  of  present  knowledge  and  of 
the  expectation  that  our  thought  shall 
be  adequate  to  the  reality  that  beckons 
us.  There  are  moods  in  which  we  are 
interested  only  in  what  we  can  clearly 
see  and  adequately  define.  With  in- 
struments of  precision  we  survey  our 
little  field,  and  fix  its  boundaries.  We 
tolerate  no  vagueness,  and  that  which 
we  do  not  know  is  that  for  which  we 
do  not  care. 

Now  and  then,  one  finds  a  mind 
that  seems  capable  of  no  other  mood. 
It  is  satisfied  with  things  as  they  are, 


2  THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

or,  rather,  with  what  it  accepts  as  the 
same,  with  things  as  they  seem.  It  is 
disturbed  by  no  sense  of  incongruity 
between  what  it  has  discovered  as 
actual,  and  what  it  has  conceived  as 
possible  and  infinitely  to  be  desired. 
It  never  flings  itself  passionately 
against  its  limitations,  seeking  to  push 
them  back,  and  believing  that  the 
best  is  yet  to  be.  The  equilibrium 
between  its  desires  and  its  attainments 
is  never  greatly  disturbed.  To  such 
a  mind  only  that  which  can  be  mea- 
sured is  real. 

If  we  were  to  accept  such  a  mood 
as  final,  we  might  dismiss  the  subject 
of  immortahty.  It  has  no  standing 
place  before  such  a  judgment  seat. 
The  faith  in  immortality  is  not  a  field 
of  experience  well  surveyed  and  fixed 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE         3 

by  metes  and  bounds.  It  is  rather 
the  sense  that  there  is  an  unexplored 
territory  that  stretches  beyond  the 
boundaries  that  we  see.  Man  is  an 
adventurer  who  cries,  — 

I  am  a  part  of  all  that  I  have  met; 

Yet  all  experience  is  an  arch  wherethro' 

Gleams    that    untravel'd    world    whose     margin 

fades 
For  ever  and  for  ever  when  I  move. 

The  idea  of  immortahty  is  one  of 
the  phases  of  the  thought  of  infini- 
tude. It  is  the  removal  of  limits 
which  at  first  seemed  final.  It  is  the 
assertion  that  our  own  lives  are  infi- 
nitely greater  than  we  had  thought; 
that  there  is  something  beyond  the 
familiar  boundaries  of  Time. 

Now,  how  do  we  ever  come  to  a 
sense   of  the  infinite  ?    It  is   not  by 


4         THE    ENDLESS    LIFE 

way  of  abstraction.  Having  discov- 
ered a  finite  reality,  we  do  not  turn 
away  from  it,  and,  in  a  spirit  of  will- 
ful contradiction,  assert  the  existence 
of  the  infinite.  No !  We  follow  a 
finite  thing.  We  seek  to  grasp  it,  to 
understand  it  in  all  its  relations  an-d 
antecedents.  We  follow  it  till  sud- 
denly we  get  beyond  our  depth.  To 
come  to  that  experience,  we  have  only 
to  follow  anything  far  enough. 

This  experience  of  the  unfathom- 
able depths  of  being  may  be  long  de- 
layed. Those  who  take  care  to  keep 
well  within  bounds  are  not  likely  to 
be  disturbed  by  the  sense  of  the 
boundless.  The  average  man  does 
not  live  habitually  in  the  awed  con- 
sciousness that  he  is  in  an  infinite 
universe.    He  is  dealing,  as  he  thinks, 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE         5 

with  finite  realities.  He  prides  him- 
self on  his  ability  to  see  all  around  a 
subject  and  to  exhaust  its  possibilities. 
He  talks  glibly  of  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  things.  He  has  the  ability 
so  to  concentrate  his  mind  upon  a 
single  phase  of  the  actual  as  to  shut 
out  all  else.  His  mind  is  preoccupied 
by  a  multitude  of  petty  cares. 

And  yet,  for  all  that,  he  does  live 
in  the  presence  of  infinite  reality  ;  and 
now  and  then  the  fogs  are  brushed 
aside,  and  he  becomes  conscious  of 
where  he  is. 

He  had  used  his  mind  merely  as 
an  instrument  for  private  gain.  He 
had  sharpened  his  wits  as  he  would 
sharpen  any  other  tools.  They  had 
seemed  impenetrable  to  ideas  uncon- 
nected   with    self-seeking.     And    yet. 


6         THE    ENDLESS    LIFE 

forced  to  meditation,  the  mind  of 
this  self-seeker  becomes  a  mirror  of 
the  universal  mysteries,  —  an  imper- 
fect mirror,  indeed :  the  images  are 
blurred  and  vague,  but  they  are  vast 
and  significant.  The  things  which 
once  seemed  final  are  not  final ;  that 
which  he  thought  he  understood  is 
past  all  understanding.  His  mind  is, 
instead  of  being  merely  an  instrument 
of  precision,  — 

the  unimaginable  lodge 
For  solitary  thinkings,  such  as  dodge 
Conception  to  the  very  bourne  of  heaven. 
Then  leave  the  naked  brain. 

This  experience  comes  whenever  he 
allows  himself  leisure  to  turn  from  his 
immediate  occupation,  and  look  at  the 
horizon.  What  lies  beyond.''  Words 
which  seemed  definitions  become  mere 


THE   ENDLESS   LIFE         7 

suggestions  when  he  tries  to  under- 
stand them.  Time,  Space,  Force,  — 
these  had  seemed  measurable,  but  to 
his  awakened  thought  they  open  up 
infinite  vistas. 

It  had  seemed  a  commonplace  thing 
to  him  to  live  in  the  present,  and  he 
had  prided  himself  on  holding  to  "one 
world  at  a  time."  But  what  is  it  to 
live  in  Time  ?  What  is  this  "  Now  " 
that  seems  so  substantial  ?  As  he 
frames  the  word,  that  present  has  be- 
come past,  —  that  moment  has  been 
lost  in  the  abyss  of  time.  It  is  as  irre- 
coverable as  the  moment  when  Herod 
was  king  in  Judea. 

In  attempting  to  grasp  a  single  mo- 
ment, to  hold  it  till  he  can  discover 
what  it  is,  he  finds  himself  in  an  un- 
fathomable deep.    He  is  in  the  midst 


8         THE    ENDLESS    LIFE 

of  an  eternal  succession,  —  that  which 
was  and  is  and  is  to  be.  He  tries  to 
think  what  was  there  before  the  first 
moment,  —  and  he  can  only  frame  the 
thought  of  the  moment  before  the 
first.  "What  shall  be  after  the  last 
moment? — it  must  be  the  moment 
after  the  last.  And  then  the  first  and 
last  become  words  without  meaning, 
and  he  cries,  "  End  there  is  none  ;  lo, 
also  there  is  no  beginning." 

He  surveys  his  field  and  fixes  his 
boundaries.  He  is  satisfied  with  his 
finite  possessions,  this  bit  of  space  en- 
closed against  all  trespassers.  Then 
in  the  night  he  looks  up,  and  there  is 
no  enclosure.  Upon  his  scanty  acres 
the  patient  stars  look  down, —  they  are 
the  same  lights  the  first  tribes  of  men 
saw  when  they  looked  up,  half  fright- 


THE   ENDLESS    LIFE         9 

ened,  and  wondered  at  the  infinitude 
above.  The  eye  sees  so  far  into  that 
infinitude  of  space  that  the  imagina- 
tion cannot  follow,  —  and  still  the  cold 
reason  declares  that  it  is  not  the  end. 

The  man  exerts  his  strength.  He 
walks,  runs,  lifts,  pushes.  Each  exer- 
tion is  a  revelation.  At  last  he  learns 
to  use  the  forces  outside  himself.  He 
exults  over  his  discoveries,  and  then 
is  overwhelmed,  for  he  has  come  upon 
an  energy  which  is  without  bounds. 
It  moves  from  everlasting  to  everlast- 
ing. He  cannot  account  for  it,  he  can- 
not comprehend  it,  but  it  is  here. 

All  these  discoveries  of  infinitude 
come  about  very  simply  and  inevit- 
ably. There  is  an  attempt  to  do  a 
definite  thing ;  it  turns  out  to  be  im- 
measurably greater   than    it   seemed. 


10       THE    ENDLESS    LIFE 

The  Hebrew  sage  describes  the  pro- 
cess. "He  maketh  the  understanding 
to  abound  like  Euphrates,  and  as  Jor- 
dan in  the  time  of  harvest ;  the  first 
man  knew  her  not  perfectly  ;  no  more 
shall  the  last  find  her  out.  For  her 
thoughts  are  more  than  the  sea,  and 
her  counsels  profounder  than  the  great 
deep."  He  tells  us  how  he  became 
conscious  of  these  profounder  depths. 
"  I  said,  I  will  water  my  best  garden ; 
and  will  water  abundantly  my  garden 
bed  ;  and  lo,  my  brook  became  a  river, 
and  my  river  became  a  sea." 

Now,  how  does  this  kind  of  expe- 
rience affect  our  thought  of  the  fixed 
boundaries  of  life  ?  Awed  by  the  infin- 
itudes of  Time  and  Space  and  Power, 
the  man  turns  back  upon  himself.  It 
is  at  first  with  a  sense  of  his  own  insig- 


Mi 


THE    ENDLESS   LIFE       ii 

nificance  and  littleness.  What  am  I  ? 
he  asks.  A  finite  creature  set  down 
in  the  midst  of  immensity,  a  creature 
with  a  definite  beginning  and  end,  I 
have  a  glimpse  of  an  eternity  that  I  do 
not  share.    My  life  is  only 

A  still  salt  pool,  lock'd  in  with  bars  of  sand 
Left  on  the  shore  ;   that  hears  all  night 

The  plunging  seas  draw  backward  from  the  land 
Their  moon-led  waters  white. 

What  am  I  ?  A  mark  of  interroga- 
tion. But  there  is  no  answer.  He 
contrasts  the  little  world  within  with 
the  great  world  without.  Within  he 
finds  thought,  feeling,  hope,  love, 
purpose,  longing  for  the  perfect. 
Without  there  is  time,  space,  matter, 
unconscious  force.  Here  is  the  con- 
trast between  the  finite  and  the  infi- 
nite, the  transient  and  the  permanent. 


12       THE    ENDLESS   LIFE 

It  is  the  world  within,  he  says,  that 
is  the  finite,  the  accidental,  the  transi- 
tory ;  the  world  without  is  the  eternal 
and  the  infinite.  Unconscious  force 
is  creative ;  it  has  within  itself  infinite 
potency;  it  has  the  promise  of  perma- 
nency. Conscious  force  —  that  force 
which  he  feels  within  himself — is  but 
a  chance  product  of  this  eternal  energy, 
signifying  nothing.  For  a  moment  it 
emerges,  and  then  is  gone  forever. 

Is  this  the  whole  story  ?  The  crea- 
ture whose  existence  is  a  note  of  in- 
terrogation must  ask  questions.  And 
he  begins  with  "  obstinate  questionings 
of  sense  and  outward  things."  Are 
these  outward  things  the  final  reali- 
ties, or  is  there  something  that  tran- 
scends? He  awakens  in  a  strange 
land,  shut  in  on  every  side  by  alien 


THE   ENDLESS    LIFE       13 

powers,  but  he  awakens  to  passionate 
longing  for  home.  He  feels  that  he  is 
kin  to  something  greater  than  himself. 
At  last  the  impulse  becomes  irresisti- 
ble, and  he  cries,  "  I  will  arise  and  go 
unto  my  Father." 

Then  begins  the  ideal  life.  It  is  a 
spiritual  quest,  the  spirit  of  man  seek- 
ing that  which  shall  satisfy  it.  It  is 
the  struggle  for  existence  lifted  to  a 
higher  level.  It  is  the  struggle  to  find 
that  which  shall  sustain  what  is  most 
distinctly  human,  —  to  find  food  for 
reason,  and  conscience,  and  the  finer 
affections.  It  is  a  struggle  against  the 
limitations  which  at  first  seemed  to 
shut  out  all  hope. 

At  first  the  aspiring  soul  seems  like 
"  a  wild  thing  taken  in  a  trap,  which 
sees  the  trapper  coming  through  the 


14       THE    ENDLESS    LIFE 

wood  ; "  the  struggle  seems  futile,  and 
yet  it  never  ceases.  Here  and  there 
it  seeks  a  way  of  escape.  After  a  while 
we  begin  to  be  conscious  that  the  strug- 
gle, which  began  so  blindly,  is  not  un- 
related to  the  advancing  order  of  the 
universe.  The  soul's  struggle  to  free 
itself  is  the  condition  of  efficiency. 
The  human  strife  is  not  a  rebellion 
against  eternal  law,  it  is  the  coopera- 
tion with  an  eternal  power.  The  soul 
is  not  entrapped,  but  harnessed  to 
fulfill  a  mighty  task. 

The  most  significant  thing  in  spirit- 
ual evolution  is  that  we  have  a  creature 
actually  existing  who  has  become  dis- 
satisfied with  his  old  environment  and 
has  deliberately  projected  himself  into 
a  new  environment.  His  past  and  his 
present  are  not  enough  for  him.    He 


THE    ENDLESS   LIFE       15 

consciously  lays  hold  upon  the  future. 
Browning  describes  what  has  taken 
place  :  — 

In  man's  self  arise 

August  anticipations,  symbols,  types. 

Of  a  dim  splendour  ever  on  before. 

In  that  eternal  circle  life  pursues. 

For  men  begin  to  pass  their  nature's  bound 

And  find  new  hopes  and  cares,  which  fast  sup- 
plant 

Their  proper  joys  and  griefs;  and  outgrow  all 

The  narrow  creeds  of  right  and  wrong,  which 
fade 

Before  the  unmeasured  thirst  for  good;  while 
peace 

Rises  within  them  ever  more  and  more. 

Such  men  are  even  now  upon  the  earth. 

Here  we  have  our  subject  in  its  con- 
crete reality.  We  do  not  propose  a 
question  about  a  future  life  unrelated 
to  this.  We  are  confronted  by  a  kind 
of  life  already  existing,  the  life  of  men 


i6       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

who  are  even  now  upon  the  earth.  It 
is  characteristic  of  such  lives  that  they 
overflow  the  narrow  bounds  of  sense. 
They  are  full  of  august  anticipations, 
they  are  thrilled  by  great  hopes,  they 
are  impelled  by  an  unmeasured  thirst 
for  good.  Do  not  such  lives  compel 
us  to  revise  ideas  derived  altogether 
from  a  study  of  the  world  from  which 
they  have  emerged,  and  over  which 
they  have  triumphed  ? 

They  have  been  watering  their  gar- 
dens of  love  and  hope  and  courage ; 
may  it  not  be  that  they  have  found 
the  slender  rill  becoming  a  river  and 
a  sea  ?  May  there  not  be  an  infinitude 
of  spiritual  life  matching  the  infini- 
tude of  physical  energy  ? 

In  discussing  the  question  of  im- 
mortality, one  may  attempt  to  trace 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       17 

its  historic  origins,  in  the  mind  of 
the  primitive  man.  One  may,  as  the 
result  of  contemporary"  observation, 
attempt  to  set  forth  the  attitude  of 
the  average  modern  man.  In  the  one 
case  we  are  confused  by  a  jungle 
growth  of  superstition,  in  the  other 
case  we  may  find  ourselves  in  an  arid 
region  of  indifference.  Nor  are  we 
better  off  when  we  consult  some  man 
of  highly  specialized  intelligence. 

There  are  men  who  have  studied 
carefully  some  particular  phase  of  life, 
whose  attention  has  hardly  been  turned 
to  its  spiritual  possibilities  or  achieve- 
ments. They  are  like  persons  who 
have  known  some  great  man  when  he 
was  an  unformed  boy.  They  know 
what  he  came  from,  and  they  think 
they  know  him.    But  they  never  treat 


i8       THE   ENDLESS    LIFE 

his  later  attainments  seriously.  Those 
who  know  most  about  the  origins  are 
not  always  fitted  to  speak  most  wisely 
about  destiny.  They  are  too  likely  to 
have  attention  fastened  upon  some 
arrested  development,  and  to  treat  it 
as  if  it  were  final. 

There  are  minds  with  great  powers 
of  analysis  which  are  devitalized  and 
dehumanized.  Emerson  tells  how 
such  an  intelligence  disappoints  us :  — 

Philosophers  are  lined  with  eyes  within. 
And,  being  so,  the  sage  unmakes  the  man. 
In  love,  he  cannot  therefore  cease  his  trade; 
Scarce  the  first  blush  has  overspread  his  cheek. 
He  feels  it,  introverts  his  learned  eye 
To  catch  the  unconscious  heart  in  the  very  act. 
His  mother  died,  —  the  only  friend  he  had,  — 
Some  tears  escaped,  but  his  philosophy 
Couched  like  a  cat  sat  watching  close  behind 
And  throttled  all  his  passion. 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       19 

What  we  most  desire  to  know  is  the 
attitude  of  those  whose  human  passion 
has  been  throttled  neither  by  super- 
stition, nor  by  worldly  preoccupation, 
nor  by  too  narrow  intellectual  inter- 
ests. We  desire  the  witness  of  the 
broadly,  sanely,  sensitively  human. 
We  are  asking  the  world-old  ques- 
tion about  "  the  fate  of  the  man-child, 
the  meaning  of  man."  And  we  ask, 
"  What  does  the  man  himself,  when 
he  is  at  his  best,  think  about  it  ? 
What  is  the  attitude  of  the  man  most 
man,  with  tenderest  human  needs  ?  " 

What  is  the  attitude  of  the  ethical 
idealist,  that  is  to  say,  the  man  who 
is  inspired  by  the  passion  for  human 
perfection,  towards  immortality  ? 

Let  us  hasten  to  say  that  the  first 
effect  of  sound  ethical  development  is 


20       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

to  quiet  the  impatient  questioning, 
and  to  rebuke  many  of  the  insistent 
demands.  The  question  of  the  dura- 
tion of  life  is  not  in  the  foreground,  — 
it  waits  on  the  prior  question  of  the 
quaHty  of  life.  There  is  a  mere  greed 
of  existence  which  is  pronounced  un- 
worthy, as  if  when  one  had  partaken 
of  a  feast,  he  refused  to  give  way  to 
others,  claiming  as  of  right  that  which 
had  been  granted  him  by  grace.  The 
well-disciplined  soul  does  not  claim 
immortality  as  a  reward  for  services 
done  here.  Duty  is  an  obligation  to 
be  fulfilled,  it  does  not  involve  an 
obligation  toward  us.  Having  done 
our  part,  we  may  not  linger  asking 
for  further  payment.  Nor  can  we 
childishly  refuse  to  recognize  the 
sanction  of  moral    law   here,   or  the 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       21 

possibilities  of  noble  living,  until  we 
are  assured  of  continued  existence. 
The  ethical  idealist  takes  the  nobler 
alternative :  — 

Is  there  no  other  life,  pitch  this  one  high. 

In  saying  this  we  proclaim  our  moral 
independence.  Allegiance  to  ideal 
righteousness  is  not  contingent  on 
what  may  or  may  not  happen  to  us. 
Its  values  are  intrinsic, —  something 
we  have  already  found  real  and  com- 
manding. We  live,  and  we  are  re- 
solved, come  what  may,  to  make  our 
lives  worthy.  We  will  fill  them  full 
of  thought,  of  generous  purpose,  of 
human  love,  of  divine  aspiration. 
Though  we  may  be  but  creatures  of  a 
day,  in  that  day  we  will  yield  our- 
selves to  the  perfect  whole.  Life  for 
us  shall  be  at  its  maximum  and  not 


22       THE   ENDLESS    LIFE 

at  its  minimum.  How  much  of  good 
may  come  to  us  we  may  not  know 
beforehand  ;  but  the  good  that  does 
come  to  us,  that  we  will  hold  fast. 
And  the  good  that  escapes  us,  what 
of  that  ?  "  The  fluent  image  of  the 
unstable  best "  is  ours  also.  Ours,  if 
not  to  hold,  then  ours  to  follow  after. 
To  be  an  idealist  is  to  be  one  who 
takes  counsel  of  his  courage  rather 
than  his  fears.  He  is  one  who,  in 
every  enterprise,  is 

Still  nursing  the  unconquerable  hope. 
Still  clutching  the  inviolable  shade. 

For  things  still  unattained  he  gives 
and  hazards  all  he  has.  As  he  will 
not  make  his  reason  blind,  neither 
will  he  allow  his  heart  to  grow  cold 
nor  his  ideals  to  be  dimmed. 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       23 

All  this  is  dependent  on  no  spec- 
ulation. It  is  a  present  experience. 
This  is  the  kind  of  life  which  he  has 
deliberately  chosen,  and  which  seems 
to  him  good.  It  is  not  a  life  of  dull 
acquiescence  in  established  conditions, 
—  it  is  a  life  of  creative  activity.  He 
is  accustomed  to  project  his  thought 
into  the  future  and  then  plunge  for- 
ward to  regain  it.  It  Is  now  no  mere 
thought,  but  a  deed.  He  has  done 
this  again  and  again.  Ideals  are  to 
him  no  empty  dreams ;  they  are  to  be 
realized  in  action. 

His  worship  of  ideal  perfection  has 
in  it  exultation,  for  the  beautiful  vis- 
ion is  to  him  a  prophecy  of  the  day 
of  its  fulfillment.  The  beauty  now 
seen  afar  marks  the  coming  of  a  new 
power. 


24       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

For  't  is  the  eternal  law 
That  first  in  beauty  should  be  first  in  might. 

Love  is  to  him  no  sad  mourner  weep- 
ing unavailing  tears,  —  it  is  a  great 
world-power.  What  he  recognizes 
and  reveres  is  love  militant  and  tri- 
umphant :  — 

Love,  from  its  awful  throne  of  patient  power 
In  the  wise  heart. 

To  pitch  this  life  high,  does  it  not 
mean  to  develop  all  the  nobler  powers 
and  trust  them  to  the  uttermost?  It 
means,  — 

To  suifer  woes  which  Hope  thinks  infinite; 
To  forgive  wrongs  darker  than  death  or  night; 

To  defy  Power  which  seems  omnipotent; 
To  love,  and  bear;  to  hope  till  Hope  creates 
From  its  own  wreck  the  thing  it  contemplates. 

Thus  the  man  has  lived.    At  last 
the  moment  comes  when  life  strikes 


1 


THE   ENDLESS   LIFE       25 

hard  on  death.  For  that  moment, 
too,  comes  the  word,  "  Pitch  this  one 
high."  That  rrteans  that  he  is  to  sum- 
mon his  best,  that  he  is  to  keep  on 
as  aforetime  with  his  face  toward  the 
light,  —  he  is  to  keep  on, —  hoping, 
loving,  daring,  aspiring. 

And  then  comes  the  sudden  silence, 
and  to  us  who  watch  the  brave  on- 
going all  things  seem  possible.  All 
things  seem  possible  save  that  there 
should  be  no  path  for  these  patient 
feet. 

The  total  impression  made  upon  us 
by  the  noblest  human  life  is  not  that 
of  a  completed  work.  It  is  not  Death 
and  the  Statue,  —  Death  putting  the 
finishing  touch  to  a  masterpiece.  It 
is  Death  and  the  Sculptor.  The  Sculp- 
tor's eyes  are  flashing   with   creative 


26       THE   ENDLESS    LIFE 

genius,  his  power  is  yet  unexhausted, 
his  willing  hand  is  outstretched.  Be- 
tween the  workman  and  his  work 
Death  intervenes.  So  far  and  no 
farther,  he  says  :  forever  and  forever 
the  work  must  remain  incomplete. 

A  work  abruptly  broken  off.  A 
marvelous  dawn  ending  in  sudden 
eclipse  ;  a  glorious  promise  unfulfilled. 
Is  this  all  ? 

Here  we  have  the  interest  of  ideal 
ethics  in  continued  life.  We  are  told 
that  disinterested  virtue  makes  a  man 
indifferent  to  his  own  existence.  He 
must  be  willing  to  sacrifice  himself 
for  the  good  cause.  Yes,  but  what  is 
the  good  cause  ? 

The  good  cause  is  the  creation  of  a 
spiritual  kingdom.  It  is  the  glad  co- 
operation of  great  souls.  It  is  furthered 


THE   ENDLESS    LIFE       27 

not  by  suicide,  but  by  service.  The 
demand  is  for  larger,  wiser,  more 
patient  service.  Call  it  self-sacrifice  if 
you  will ;  that  means  rrot  self-destruc- 
tion, but  the  offering  of  one's  self  as 
a  necessary  power  to  do  a  work.  And 
there  must  be  a  self  to  offer,  —  and 
the  larger  and  fuller  the  self  the  bet- 
ter. This  is  the  word  of  disinterested 
devotion,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me." 

A  hundred  times  the  good  man  has 
said  that.  He  has  gone  forth  not 
knowing  whither  he  went.  It  is  not 
the  weakness  of  selfishness,  it  is  the 
soldierly  spirit,  that  makes  him  at  the 
utmost  verge  of  the  earthly  life  long 
for  new  opportunity.  He  asks  for  no 
reward  for  things  done,  only  the  wages 
of  going  on.  Still  he  cries  with  un- 
abated ardor,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me  " 


28       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

In  all  this  there  is  not  the  egotistic 
clinging  to  a  personal  possession,  there 
is  rather  the  devotion  to  spiritual  reali- 
ties. The  primary  assertion  is  that  of 
the  eternal  values,  there  is  a  recogni- 
tion of  that  inner  treasure  which  the 
Hebrew  sages  called  wisdom.  "  The 
true  beginning  of  her  is  the  desire  of 
discipline,  and  the  desire  of  discipline 
is  love  of  her,  and  love  of  her  is  ob- 
servance of  her  laws,  and  to  give  heed  to 
her  laws  compriseth  incorruption,  and 
incorruption  bringeth  near  to  God. 
In  kinship  to  wisdom  is  immortality 
and  in  her  friendship  is  good  delight." 

What  are  the  things  which  most 
bear  the  impress  of  the  Eternal,  — 
which  seem  most  truly  to  mirror  the 
power  of  God  ?  Wisdom,  love,  duty, 
joyous  and  free  service. 


THE   ENDLESS   LIFE       29 

But  what  do  these  words  mean  ? 
They  express  personal  qualities,  they 
are  attributes  of  a  hving  being.  They 
are  doubtless  potentialities  of  the  uni- 
verse, bound  up  in  its  necessary  causa- 
tion, but  to  us  they  have  been  revealed 
in  human  consciousness. 

For  unnumbered  ages  atoms  have 
been  moved  about  by  forces  as  inde- 
structible as  themselves.  They  have 
floated  in  mists  of  fire,  they  have 
been  gathered  into  molten  billows, 
they  have  been  whirled  into  worlds 
and  systems  of  worlds,  they  have 
risen  in  clouds,  they  have  fallen  in 
rain,  they  have  risen  again  in  grass- 
blades  and  flowers  and  trees.  They 
have  been  organized  into  creatures 
that  breathe  and  creep  and  walk  and 
fly,  and  then  return  again  into  dust. 


30      THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

All  this  is  wonderful,  and  yet  thus 
far  the  Universe  seems  to  be  all  of 
one  piece.  In  all  this  change  of  form 
there  is  no  destruction  of  values,  for 
the  whole  receives  the  parts  back 
again  into  itself.  There  is  no  more 
sense  of  loss  in  the  dissolution  than 
in  the  evolution*;  it  is  merely  change 
of  form,  the  substance  remains  the 
same.  Physical  force  remains  physical 
force,  atoms  remain  atoms  through  all 
the  metamorphosis.  There  is  thus  far 
no  room  for  rebellion  against  the  hur- 
rying fate.  "  Dust  to  dust,"  —  there  is 
no  repining  against  that  law,  as  long 
as  the  dust  is  dust,  and  nothing  more. 

But  the  time  comes  when  there  is 
something  more.  Out  of  the  dust 
there  emerges  a  creature  whose  exist- 
ence in  the  material  world  is  nothing 


THE   ENDLESS    LIFE       31 

short  of  a  miracle.  Connect  him  as 
closely  as  you  may  with  all  that  went 
before,  and  yet  the  amazing  fact  re- 
mains that  his  being  carries  him  into 
another  sphere  which  transcends  the 
familiar  round  of  physical  causation. 
His  language  is  strange  in  this  world 
of  law.  Is  it  only  a  chance  concourse 
of  atoms,  organized  into  a  brain,  as 
yesterday  they  may  have  been  organ- 
ized into  the  weeds  of  the  roadside, 
from  which  comes  the  confident  voice: 
I  love,  I  hope,  I  worship  eternal  beauty, 
I  offer  myself  in  obedience  to  a  perfect 
law  of  righteousness,  I  gladly  suffer 
that  others  may  be  saved,  I  resist  the 
threatening  evil  that  I  see,  I  choose 
not  the  easy  way,  but  the  difficult  way, 
my  will  shall  not  yield  to  circumstance, 
but  only  to  a  higher  will. 


1 


32       THE    ENDLESS    LIFE 

Molecules,  however  organized,  do 
not  naturally  thus  utter  themselves. 
Chemical  reactions  are  not  thus  ex- 
pressed. There  are  no  equivalents 
for  this  new  power  in  the  mechanical 
forces. 

Are  we  not  compelled  to  say,  "We 
are  in  the  presence  of  a  new  and  higher 
kind  of  energy.  The  stupendous  fact 
is  the  existence  of  a  living  will.  Out 
of  a  universe  of  purposeless  force  there 
comes  a  purposeful  will  devoted  to 
absolute  good."  Can  that  be  true  ? 
Our  instinct  for  orderly  causation  does 
not  allow  the  statement  to  pass  un- 
challenged. A  universe  out  of  which 
there  emerges  a  living  will  cannot  be 
purposeless.  In  the  light  of  the  living 
will  the  history  of  the  Past  must  be 
written,  and  this  newly  revealed  force 


THE    ENDLESS   LIFE       33 

throws  a  penetrating  light  into  the 
future.  Here  is  something  that  has 
an  eternal  meaning  :  — 

O  living  will  that  shalt  endure 

When  all  that  seems  shall  suffer  shock. 

Here  is  the  first  glimpse  of  infini- 
tude that  really  satisfies.  The  infini- 
tudes of  Time  and  Space  and  Physical 
Force  awe  us  at  first,  and  then  tire 
us.  It  is  because  they  are  infinite  in 
extent,  but  not  infinite  in  value.  We 
very  quickly  exhaust  their  meaning, 
and  then  there  is  the  sense  of  mo- 
notonous repetition.  It  is  the  sense 
that  comes  when  we  stand  upon  the 
summit  of  a  mountain  that  looks 
down  upon  numberless  lesser  heights. 
At  first  there  is  the  exhilaration  of 
achievement  and  the  widened  hori- 
zons.     But    there    is    nothing    any 


34       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

longer  to  beckon  us ;  the  rugged 
earth  is  flattened  beneath  us  into  a 
featureless  expanse.  We  tire  of  look- 
ing down. 

But  the  glimpse  of  spiritual  infini- 
tude is  like  the  glimpse  of  mountains 
towering  above  us,  range  upon  range, 
peak  above  peak.  Looking  up  we  see 
no  end,  we  are  inspired  by  the  im- 
mensities. There  is  in  us  the  unstilled 
desire  for  that  which  lies  beyond.  Did 
ever  lover  tire  of  the  thought  of  love 
eternal,  the  vaster  passion  gathering 
all  unto  itself,  guarding  all  and  keep- 
ing all?  The  truth-lover  tires  of  the 
accumulation  of  unrelated  facts,  but 
he  does  not  tire  of  Truth,  Truth  vi- 
talized and  humanized.  Divine  ideas 
ever  find  us  young  and  ever  keep  us 
so.    "  No  man,"  said  Victor  Hugo, 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       35 

"  can  make  an  end  with  his  con- 
science ; "  and  we  may  add,  no  man 
with  an  awakened  conscience  wishes 
to  make  an  end.  "  The  path  of  the 
just  is  as  a  shining  Hght  that  shineth 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day." 

One  theme  there  is  that  is  inex- 
haustible :  that  is  the  development  of 
a  soul.  Here  is  a  work  of  creation 
that  might  go  on  forever,  and  forever 
absorb  our  interest. 

Does  it  not  all  come  back  to  this 
one  realization  of"  the  abysmal  deeps 
of  personality  "  ?  Those  to  whom  per- 
sonality is  suggestive  of  limitation  may 
hesitate  to  speak  either  of  a  personal 
God  or  of  the  continuance  of  the  per- 
sonal life  of  man.  The  conscious  per- 
sonality seems  to  them  only  a  part  of 
an  unconscious  whole.     They  think 


36       THE    ENDLESS    LIFE 

of  it  as  an  insignificant  part.  Its  sepa- 
rate existence  is  but  temporary,  and 
then  it  is  absorbed  again  into  that  out 
of  which  it  emerged. 

Some  little  talk  of  Me  and  Thee 

There  was,  and  then  no  more  of  Thee  and  Me. 

^  What  does  this  talk  of  Thee  and  Me 
signify  ?  Is  it  only  the  material  Uni- 
verse talking  in  its  sleep  ? 

There  have  always  been  those  to 
whom  this  is  wildly  incredible.  The 
talk  of  Thee  and  Me  is  not  to  be 
lightly  dismissed.  Something  out  of 
the  Universe  speaks.  At  first  it  is  but 
a  cry  out  of  the  dark,  then  the  speech 
becomes  more  coherent.  The  talk  of 
Thee  and  Me  becomes  the  talk  of  re- 
lations of  justice,  mercy,  and  love.  It 
reveals  a  universal  order.  It  reaches 
into   prayer  and  worship.    The   Ian- 


1 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       37 

guage  is  still  personal :  "I  in  thee, 
thou  in  me."  It  reveals  an  all-com- 
prehensive unity. 

This  is  that  of  which  —  when  the 
clouds  are  off  our  souls  —  we  dare  as- 
sert immortality.  The  ground  of  our 
confidence  is  the  discovery  we  have 
made. 

Know,  man  hath  all  that  Nature  hath  but  more. 
And  in  that  more  lie  all  his  hopes  of  good. 

It  is  with  the  fate  of  that  something 
more  that  we  are  concerned. 

Or  would  it  not  be  truer  to  say  that 
when  we  once  are  deeply  persuaded 
that  there  is  something  more,  and  that 
that  something  more  is  in  its  nature 
spiritual,  we  cease  to  be  anxiously 
concerned  about  its  fate.  Its  essential 
nature  is  the  best  argument  for  its 
perpetuity.    There  is  a  serene  mood 


38       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

that  is  not  impatient  for  further  proof. 
It  accepts 

With  faith  that  comes  of  self-control. 
The  truths  that  never  can  be  proved 
Until  we  close  with  all  we  loved. 

And  all  we  flow  from,  soul  in  soul. 

This  we  may  say :  that  the  faith  that 
comes  of  self-control  rests  not  on  the 
weakness,  but  on  the  strength,  of  hu- 
man nature.  It  is  the  faith  not  of 
mere  visionaries,  but  of  those  who 
have  learned  by  doing.  It  is  a  faith 
that  has 

great  allies  ; 
Its  friends  are  exultations,  agonies. 
And  love,  and  man's  unconquerable  mind. 

It  is  the  faith  of  multitudes  who, 
coming  out  of  great  tribulation,  break 
forth  at  last  into  victorious  song. 

It  is  a  faith  that  lies  deep  in  the 


THE    ENDLESS   LIFE       39 

heart  of  many  a  man  who  dares  make 
no  dogmatic  assertion,  like  those  dis- 
ciples of  whom  it  was  once  written, 
"  They  yet  believed  not,  for  joy,  and 
wondered."  This  wondering  joy  in 
life  inspires  a  deeper  confidence  than 
many  a  labored  argument. 

It  is  a  faith  that  is  born  anew  in 
unselfish  friendship.  Many  a  man 
who  would  not  claim  immortality  for 
himself,  yet  reverently  recognizes  in 
another  greater  than  himself  "  the 
power  of  an  endless  life."  I  have 
seen,  he  says,  a  life  that  is  to  me  a 
revelation.  I  cannot  doubt  but  that 
all  is  well  with  him, — 

That  friend  of  mine  who  lives  in  God. 

This  above  all,  —  it  is  a  faith  which 
we  all  share  when  we  are  brought  into 
the  presence  of  a  supremely  great  soul. 


40       THE    ENDLESS   LIFE 

Then  we  know  that  there  is  an  infini- 
tude of  love  and  wisdom  that  matches 
the  infinitudes  of  space. 

Companioned  by  the  great  souls  of 
the  world,  we  may  share  their  cour- 
ageous joy  in  the  great  adventure:  — 

Sail  forth  —  steer  for  the  deep  waters  only. 
Reckless  O  soul  exploring,  I  with  thee  and  thou 

with  me. 
For  we  are  bound  where  mariner  has  not  yet 

dared  go. 
And  we  will  risk  the  ship,  ourselves,  and  all. 

But  granting  that  this  attitude  of 
hopeful  expectancy  has  the  support  of 
all  that  is  best  within  us,  the  question 
comes,  "Why  has  not  the  evidence 
for  continued  life  been  made  so  clear 
and  strong  that  there  could  be  no 
longer  any  possibility  of  doubt?    If 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       41 

our  hope  rests  ultimately  on  the  eter- 
nal goodness,  why  has  not  that  eternal 
goodness  allayed  our  anxieties?  Should 
we  not  expect  a  revelation  so  definite 
that  in  all  these  generations  it  should 
have  given  peace  to  those  *  who 
through  fear  of  death  were  all  their 
lifetime  subject  to  bondage'?  Faith 
in  immortality  is  in  its  last  analysis 
faith  in  God,  Mn  knowledge  of  whom 
standeth  our  eternal  life.*  Why  is  not 
this  knowledge  clearer?" 

So  Browning's  "  Cleon  "  meditated. 
To  him  the  lack  of  a  definite  revela- 
tion seemed  equivalent  to  the  denial 
of  the  human  faith. 

I  dare  at  times  imagine  to  my  need 
Some  future  state  revealed  to  us  by  Zeus. 
Unlimited  in  capability 
For  joy,  as  this  is  in  desire  for  joy. 


42       THE   ENDLESS    LIFE 

To  seek  which,  the  joy-hunger  forces  us: 
That,  stung  by  straitness  of  our  hfe,  made  strait 
On  purpose  to  make  sweet  the  life  at  large  — 
Freed  by  the  throbbing  impulse  we  call  death. 
We  burst  there  as  the  worm  into  the  fly. 
Who,  while  a  worm  still,  wants  his  wings.  But,  no ! 
Zeus  has  not  yet  revealed  it;  and,  alas! 
He  must  have  done  so  —  were  it  possible ! 

The  instinct  is  a  true  one  which 
insists  that  immortality  belongs  to 
the  sphere  of  "  revealed  religion." 
Following  this  instinct  religious  men 
have  rested  everything  not  on  rea- 
soning but  on  miracle.  Once  upon  a 
time,  they  say,  God  graciously  drew 
aside  the  veil  which  had  hidden  the 
future  and  made  known  the  glorious 
fact  of  continued  existence.  Those  to 
whom  this  favor  was  given  had  full 
assurance,  and  we  believing  in  their 
testimony  can  share  their  confidence. 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       43 

For  those  who  are  able  to  receive 
such  evidence  as  conclusive,  immor- 
tality is  accepted  with  the  same  kind 
of  assurance  that  belongs  to  any  as- 
certained fact.  But  there  are  those  to 
whom  this  frame  of  mind  is  an  impos- 
sibility. Historic  evidence  can  never 
be  to  them  sufficient.  It  is  a  chain  of 
testimony  that  can  never  be  stronger 
than  its  weakest  link.  If  the  evidence 
for  immortality  rests  upon  a  special 
miracle,  that  miracle  must  be  per- 
formed in  their  presence  and  under 
conditions  which  allow  opportunity 
for  most  careful  investigation. 

And  yet  it  is  possible  for  such  per- 
sons to  believe  in  a  divine  revelation. 
Indeed,  some  of  them  believe  in  no- 
thing else.  The  old  antithesis  between 
Natural  and  Revealed  Religion  is  cast 


44       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

aside.  We  cannot  say.  Some  things 
necessary  to  our  salvation  God  gra- 
ciously revealed  to  us,  and  other 
things  He  left  us  to  find  out  for 
ourselves.  We  rather  say  :  There  is  an 
eternal  revelation  of  Truth.  It  is  not 
arbitrary  or  spasmodic.  It  is  never 
premature.  It  comes  constantly  "an- 
swering unto  man's  endeavor."  Its 
organ  is  personal  consciousness. 

A  stone  lies  on  the  ground.  The 
sun  shines  upon  it,  the  rains  falls,  the 
eternal  sky  is  above  it,  but  it  knows 
nothing  and  can  know  nothing  of  all 
this.  Men  come  and  take  it  out  of  its 
place,  they  carve  it  into  forms  of 
beauty,  they  place  it  in  a  temple,  they 
bow  down  before  it  and  worship  it. 
But  all  this  is  unrevealed. 

A  child  is    born.    It,   too,  is  sur- 


THE   ENDLESS   LIFE       45 

rounded  by  realities  which  are  at  first 
veiled  from  it.  It  knows  neither  it- 
self nor  the  world  into  which  it  has 
come.  But  immediately  the  process 
of  unveiling  begins.  At  first  every- 
thing is  without  form  and  void,  but 
as  the  days  go  by,  outlines  more  and 
more  definite  appear.  The  nebulous 
splendor  of  the  light  is  distinguished 
from  the  darkness,  and  there  is  the 
day  and  the  night.  A  friendly  face  is 
recognized,  and  there  is  the  first  appre- 
hension of  the  mystery  of  love.  With 
the  swift  years  the  revealing  goes  on. 
Practical  wisdom  is  revealed  through 
labor.  The  knowledge  of  natural 
law  comes  through  experiment.  The 
moral  law  is  revealed  to  the  grow- 
ing conscience.  Sympathy  comes  with 
the  experience  of  sorrow.    Knowledge 


46       THE   ENDLESS    LIFE 

comes  only  as  the  mind  has  been  pre- 
pared to  receive  it.  It  cannot  come 
otherwise.  First  there  is  the  seeking, 
then  by  slow  degrees  the  finding,  and 
the  seeking  itself  is  an  essential  part 
of  the  revelation.  It  is  an  educative 
process,  and  not  a  magical  transfor- 
mation scene.  Its  purpose  is  not  to 
relieve  our  anxieties  but  to  strengthen 
and  purify  our  natures. 

God  may  not  have  revealed  eternal 
life  through  some  miracle  which  makes 
doubt  impossible.  Neither  has  He 
so  revealed  the  laws  of  health,  or  the 
motions  of  the  planets,  or  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  art,  or  the  ideals 
of  true  statesmanship.  Yet  all  these 
things  are  being  revealed  through  the 
development  of  humanity.  It  is  a 
marvelous  series  of  discoveries. 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       47 

The  hidden  things  are  not  those 
which  are  least  important  nor  those 
which  are  in  their  nature  most  obscure. 
Shelley  writes  of  "  a  poet  hidden  in 
the  light  of  thought."  There  are 
truths,  sublimely  simple,  hidden  in 
the  light  rather  than  in  the  darkness. 
They  await  the  seeing  eye  and  the 
understanding  heart.  They  exist  and 
influence  us  even  while  we  are  uncon- 
scious of  them.  We  may  have  pre- 
monitions of  them  long  before  we  are 
able  to  perceive  them  clearly. 

We  might  conceive  that  anything  so 
essential  as  the  laws  of  health  should 
have  been  revealed  fully  at  the  begin- 
ning of  human  history.  Nothing  is  so 
desirable  as  health  of  the  body.  It  is 
not  an  artificial  condition,  but  a  life 
according  to  nature. 


48       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

And  yet  no  knowledge  has  been 
longer  delayed.  The  simplest  truths 
have  slowly  come  into  the  field  of  hu- 
man consciousness.  Even  those  who 
have  most  eagerly  sought  for  health 
have  had  to  learn  through  their  own 
failures.  Such  universally  diffused 
blessings  as  fresh  air  and  sunshine 
have  been  overlooked,  and  help  has 
been  sought  in  all  sorts  of  magic. 
The  pioneers  of  medicine  have  had 
to  cut  their  way  through  as  dense  a 
jungle  of  superstition  as  that  which 
has  obstructed  the  way  of  the  theolo- 
gians. One  experiment  after  another 
had  been  tried.  The  simple  and  the 
natural  methods  are  the  last  to  be  ap- 
preciated, so  slow  is  the  revealing  of 
truth. 

Back  of  all  the  effort  that  is  being 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       49 

made  to  enlarge  the  domain  of  know- 
ledge, there  is  one  vitalizing  faith.  It 
is  the  faith  that  the  healthy  life  is 
possible.  The  vast  domain  of  the  un- 
known is  no  longer  full  of  spectres 
frightening  those  who  peer  into  its 
sullen  depths.  It  is  rather  the  goal 
of  eager  explorers  who  plunge  into  it 
with  a  confidence  born  of  past  experi- 
ence. They  have  no  doubt  but  that 
each  new  discovery  will  teach  us  how 
to  live  more  wholesomely. 

That  word  "  wholesome "  is  the 
key  to  it  all.  Health  is  wholesome- 
ness,  —  it  is  life  in  its  entirety  and 
fullness.  Danger  lurks  in  that  which 
is  partial  and  fragmentary.  Timidity 
shuts  the  door  against  its  best  friends. 
It  is  afraid  of  the  helping  powers.  It 
breathes  the  close  air,  it  shuts  out  the 


50       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

sun,  it  saves  itself  from  exertion,  and 
then  wonders  why  it  is  ill.  It  is  ill 
because  it  does  not  gladly  welcome 
the  good.  It  is  the  universal  that  is 
the  antiseptic. 

This  fundamental  conception  of  the 
friendliness  of  the  whole  belongs  to 
all  ideal  effort.  It  is  the  doctrine  of 
"  saving  health."  The  three  great 
words  "  health,"  "  wholesomeness,'' 
ahd  "  holiness ''  are  from  the  same 
root.  Their  meaning  is  expressed  in 
the  great  word  of  morals,  "  integrity.'' 
A  strong  confidence  in  the  integrity 
of  the  universe  and  in  the  integrity  of 
the  best  personality  has  been  the  slow 
growth  of  experience.  It  is  the  whole 
man  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  of 
his  environment,  —  the  physical  man 
responding  to  his  physical    environ- 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       51 

ment,  the  spiritual  man  responding  to 
his  spiritual  environment. 

Jeremy  Taylor  wrote  of  "  Holy 
Living  and  Holy  Dying."  The  two 
cannot  be  separated.  When  one 
comes  to  die  the  moral  habits  of  a 
lifetime  are  not  changed.  There  must 
be  a  firm  integrity,  a  confidence  born 
of  the  health  of  the  spirit. 

Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  Soul  ? 
And  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  ? 
Hope  thou  in  God :  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him 
Who  is  the  health  of  my  countenance  and  my 
God. 

There  is  a  faith  in  immortal  life 
which  has  characterized  visionaries. 
There  is  an  ecstatic  confidence  of 
those  whose  souls  have  been  filled 
with  a  sudden  glory.  But  more  con- 
vincing   to  most  of  us  is  the  sober 


52       THE   ENDLESS   LIFE 

confidence  of  the  simple  man  who 
stands  in  his  integrity  undaunted  by 
death.  He  sees  no  miraculous  visions, 
but  he  is  steadied  by  his  experience, 
and  he  takes  for  granted  that  he  is 
going  on.  Such  a  wholesome  spirit 
appeals  alike  to  the  Stoic  and  to  the 
Christian.  Perhaps  it  was  never  more 
simply  expressed  than  in  "  The  Pil- 
grim's Progress." 

When  they  came  to  the  river  there 
were  those  whose  experiences  were 
characteristic  simply  of  evangelical 
piety.  But  among  them  was  one,  Mr. 
Honest  by  name,  who  was  simply 
and  soundly  human. 

"  Then  it  came  to  pass  a  while  after, 
that  there  was  a  Post  in  the  town  that 
inquired  for  Mr.  Honest.  So  he  came 
to  the  house  where  he  was,  and  deliv- 


THE    ENDLESS    LIFE       53 

ered  to  his  hands  these  Hnes :  *  Thou 
art  commanded  to  be  ready  against  this 
day  seven-night,  to  present  thyself  be- 
fore thy  Lord  at  his  Father's  house. 
And  for  a  token  that  my  message  is 
true,  all  the  daughters  of  music  shall 
be  brought  low.'  Then  Mr.  Honest 
called  for  his  friends  and  said  unto 
them,  '  I  die  but  shall  make  no  will. 
As  for  my  honesty,  it  shall  go  with 
me ;  let  him  that  comes  after  be  told 
of  this.' 

"When  the  day  that  he  was  to  be 
gone  was  come,  he  addressed  himself 
to  go  over  the  river.  Now  the  river 
at  that  time  overflowed  its  banks  in 
some  places;  but  Mr.  Honest  in  his 
lifetime  had  spoken  to  one  Good-Con- 
science to  meet  him  there,  the  which 
he  also  did,  and  lent  him  his  hand  and 


54       THE   ENDLESS    LIFE 

so  helped  him  over.  The  last  words  of 
Mr.  Honest  were  '  Grace  reigns.'  So 
he  left  the  world." 

Our  doubts  and  fears  vanish  when 
we  see  Mr.  Honest  standing  by  the 
river's  brink  talking  with  happy  ear- 
nestness with  his  friend  Good-Con- 
science. They  talk  of  the  good  they 
have  experienced  and  of  the  greater 
good  they  still  are  seeking  —  and  one 
is  as  real  to  them  as  the  other. 

Those  who  share  that  faith  recog- 
nize, in  all  humility,  their  own  lim- 
itations; but  they  recognize  a  power 
that  transcends  these  limitations.  It 
has  manifested  itself  in  the  simplest 
lives.  It  has  given  to  them  a  mean- 
ing that  is  inexhaustible.  "  Beloved, 
now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it 
doth   not   yet  appear  what  we  shall 


THE   ENDLESS   LIFE       55 

be."  Conscious  of  the  divine  quality 
of  the  present  life,  one  can  afford  to 
wait  for  the  things  which  do  not  yet 
appear. 


EUctrotyped  and  printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  <2r»  Co. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


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